Note on the reviews: I enjoy reading the reviews from different readers, but I was hoping for some reviewers give some kind of critique on improving my writing. I am hoping that I am keeping a lot of this story in present tense since this is based on Yuffie's point of view, and there were some grammar errors I missed and confusing sentences I found. I was surprised that none of you guys caught my mistakes.
Disclaimer: Reminder that Final Fantasy VII is cooperated and owned by Square Enix.
This is the last disclaimer.
Chapter 5: Tifa, Gimme Back Ryuu
"Yu-shan!"
…
Ryuu. I love you, but you are going to make me cry and die at the same time. You are a lifesaver on brightening up the mood, and I had a crappy day after the encounter of my ex-boyfriend. I am currently hugging the life out of my baby brother and giving him the kisses on his forehead because I am going to die by the hands of Buttface next door. Or will be dying if I could get a hold of him.
"Welcome back, Lady Kisaragi. Good evening, Miss Lockhart, Miss Gainsborough."
"Gods, Chekhov. Don't call me, 'Lady.' You know that it's fine to say my first name in front of my friends." That's one of the maids, Miss Yoshimaru, I mentioned a few months ago.
Full name is Chekhov Yoshimaru, and she's basically a maid, teacher, and bodyguard. She's usually the one taking care of me for the moment and driving me to school, and she's been a friend to my mom since high school. Up to this day, she still helps my mom around the house, and they did not look older in their mid-thirties or early forties. Mostly, she makes sure that I stay out of trouble and teaches me how to be at least a proper woman would act, and she can be scary when I sleep in lessons. She knows that I did not like the stuffy shit such as serving men and being submissive, so she just gave me the basics. Note: because my third year is getting harder to pass, she is allowing me days off until either winter or summer.
I haven't seen her daughter, Shake, around the house. Usually, on the weekends, she would be around with her mom and play with Ryuu. The kid's already twelve years old, and she was able to lift heavier stuff around her size. Sheesh. She's able to carry Godo when she was eight, and I had a good laugh when she threw him to the pool summers ago. I'm guessing that she was somewhere in her own home dealing with middle school.
Back to the present. The girls and I got to my house in the evening, and the sun's setting. We decided to return from the ex-boyfriend incident, and the sun was going down. Tifa and Aerith have rides, and they decided to wait at my house for Barret to pick them up.
"Where's mom?" I asked Chekhov while holding Ryuu.
"Your mother is going to pick up Lord Godo from the airport. Do not worry; there will be bodyguards with her as well." You know what? I think the favors are on my terms now. Dad can make sure that Pirithous stays the hell away from me, as I work my ass off on studying English. I swear to the gods, three chapters of the Greek mythology each day is not going well for my sanity. Wait… how long is dad staying?
"Chekhov? How long will dad be staying?" I asked, and Chekhov seemed pensive.
"I would think around a week before he leaves on Sunday for the conference meeting in Junon, if there was no emergency calls." Damn. Never mind. Looks like that plan went out the window.
"Aw… don't we get a hug as well?" Tifa teased, and Ryuu's face lit up.
"Ti-shan! Ri-shan! Hiz!" Nyooooo! He's mah baby brother! You can't have him! I'll throw you girls out the window from the second story of my house! Oh, well. I'll let him hug Tifa and Aerith for a while since they have been coming over less and less, but tonight. He is mine! Hehehehe…
"Aw… I could just eat you up!" Aerith giggled, and Tifa scowled.
"Hey! You can't eat him! I'm gonna eat him first!" I was laughing on the back, and Ryuu's face turned to horror.
"E… Eat me?" I stopped laughing, and my smile turned into a grin with my pearly teeth showing. Let the teasing begin…
"That's right! We are hungry, and we are going to eat your little feet first." He froze and then ran toward the living room, giggling as those tiny feet pattered against the wooden floor. All three of us looked at each other and then later laughed. Oh, I wish that Marlene and Denzel were here; they'd be playing the hide and seek with Ryuu, and we, the "hungry" sisters, would find them and tickle them. We put our bags and toys aside to make sure that we don't trip or rip anything open. The dress cost me my allowance, and I was lucky to find the sandals I wanted in a cheap price.
"Ready or not…" Tifa sang first.
"Here we come~!" Aerith finished, and they bounced slowly toward the suspecting Ryuu. I hope he knows how keep quiet as a ninja. I trained him how to be quiet in case of intruders or people he doesn't know. If he knows the person, he'll jump on them and hug. If not, he'll keep quiet unless my parents or I come around to save him or tell him to come out if it's safe.
"I shall prepare dinner." Chekhov announced and left me to my own devices. I look up to hear the girls cooing my baby brother out. Oh boy. I better go start finding him and tickle him…
Ding, dong!
God… DANG IT! Whoever has the balls to interrupt my happiness is going to lose them! Just when things are getting better, there is going to be something bad in the end! I'm gonna yank that door open and shove my foot up their ass so hard that they are not going to be the same person as-
"Evening, Miss Kisaragi."
…
Shit. It's Buttface.
"Um… hi?" Yeah. I'm not sure if I was surprised or rude, but when you have the sadistic, jerk-of-a-teacher neighbor greeting you at your house with that red-eyed stare like you are going to die today, then you can either be scared shitless or question his existence gracing the front of your door. Well… I'm more leaning toward being scared shitless because he was looking at me like I was in deep shit. Wait a minute… was he raising his eyebrow at me?
"Um… is there something you need?" I asked again, and the sounds of my baby brother screaming in joy and giggling echoed throughout the house. God dammit all. I was missing out the fun, and Buttface here just ruined my chance on playing with the kid.
"I received a call from Mr. Barret Wallace that he would be unable to retrieve Miss Gainsborough and my sister. Due to a job emergency, he is placing his responsibilities unto me."
So… let me get this straight.
Barret is basically in this emergency call from his job, and you have to drive Aerith and Tifa back to their houses right now. As in pronto.
"Exactly."
…
Tifa's gonna break my legs, but…
"TIFA! AERITH! Your ride is here, and it's not Mr. Wallace." I covered my ears and looked at Mr. Valentine with a smirk. Oh, he so does not know his sister more than I do. Brownie points for me~!
"WHAT!" I could feel the vibrations from the stampeding from upstairs and the shakes of Tifa's awesome screech. I moved out of the way from Tifa's line of running because no one should get in Tifa's way like the time Mother Nature visited her, and she wanted cheese omelet with ketchup on it. The last time, a sophomore was scared shitless because Tifa was breathing down his neck when he couldn't make up his own damn mind, and Aerith and I had to console him from the trauma. Poor kid. We actually had to give him a chocolate chip cookie to calm him down.
"Hello, Tifa. How was your day?" Oh boy. Sparks are flying in the entrance, and Tifa was using her death glare at her brother. Hey. I think they are related: similar hair color, similar eye color, and similar glare technique. No wonder I was getting the scary vibe from both Tifa and Mr. Valentine.
"How the hell- when did you- Yuffie! Please, tell me why is my brother here?" I blinked. Wow. I never see the day that Tifa broke in front of me. The only way to break Tifa's brain was to mention her boyfriend, and then she's in cloud nine. Aerith came down as well, but she had this worried expression. Probably, she's worried about her adoptive father. I think Ryuu is with Chekhov for the moment since there is tension in here. Therefore, I have to repeat what he said… in my own words of course.
"Barret couldn't come because he had an emergency call from his work, so your brother is here to drive you home." Tifa didn't seem very enthusiastic with the change of plans, and she was ready to fight tooth and nail just to stay here just to be a permanent residence. Kinda funny though. He's our next-door neighbor and her brother, and she could have stayed if she was a ghost. How come she hasn't thought of moving in with him?
"Great idea, Yuffie!"
…
Gods, I am such an idiot.
"I thought you hate his guts." I reminded her the reaction from the first day of school and today when I announced his existence. It's great and fun to have friends as neighbors, but I would usually wonder how bad it would be to have your best friend bug you twenty-four seven. Not that I was complaining, it's just that there will be stressful times that we would have to get together and spend our homework time to two o' clock and then sleep on five just to wake up with only two hours of sleep. Blame the last crazy sleepover a year ago. It was fun as hell, but still, it destroyed our brains.
"Well, I would have to adjust, do I?" Pensive as ever. I wonder if you and your brother share similar traits other than color image wise. I glance at Mr. Valentine for any thoughts for this, and he seemed thoughtful. Give him a narrowed glare, eyebrow scrunch, and the deepest frown on his face, and then you got yourself the annoyed, serious teacher in place.
"If you are going to live under my house, you are going to live under my rules." Oh yeah. He's technically an adult, and he can do anything that doesn't involve female students living under the same roof as him. Tifa is an exception; she's his sister. He's… what? Past twenty-one years old?
"I'm twenty-four. Thank you very much."
…
Note to self: Go see someone who can give you tips on not giving your thoughts away before you get shipped to the loony bin.
Wait…
He's eight years older than us? !
"Aw… I wanna live next to you guys, too." Aerith, you are the sweetest girl I know, but I don't know where did you get the ability to distract people's thoughts.
"Girl. If you and Tifa started living next to me, we'd basically blow up the whole neighborhood with a multi-colored mushroom cloud that would put the X-bomb to shame." I replied which the responses were both girls laughing and Buttface looking very confused. He hasn't lived long enough around this town to know the jokes from the beginning of our time, and I, now, have the upper hand to play around his mind.
"Cloud…" Oh god. There goes Tifa. I glance at Mr. Valentine to see his reaction to the sister dating a boy situation. Usually, older brothers tend to be like the dads and threaten the guys who are dating their sisters with promises of pain. I've seen those a few times, and the brothers give the death-glare to the guys. Interesting thing is that he doesn't glare or show any signs of aggression; well, I am guessing that they weren't that close since Tifa has a grudge against Mr. Valentine. I wonder why.
However, back to my response. I like to live alone with my baby brother in my own house, and there are times that I want peace and quiet. I really don't mind my friends living next to me, but because my dad is the ambassador, we always have constant protection twenty-four seven. The house is small enough to prevent any kidnappings, but there are times that security would come around everyday to see if there are any bombs or anything hazardous to neighbors and the family. I do not want anyone go kidnap him next door, and I do not want anything happen to my friends and family.
Sure, we can come over and go nuts with candy and lots of games, but I think having to wake up where all my friends and family are dead would break me to the core.
Besides, having two faces up-close, wide-eyed, and grinning friends reminded me of the scary movie doll I watched with Reno at night with the lights off. People. Do not watch a scary movie with one or two people at nighttime. Have four or five people with you with the lights on, or suffer night terrors where the doll doesn't freakin' die.
"Oh! Mr. Valentine! Yuffie has a request!" Aerith, you are going to make me cry here.
"Hm? Is that so?" Oh, god. Is there no hope for humanity? I glanced at Aerith who has the sweetest smile on her face and back to Mr. Valentine, and I know he's smiling inside. Outside, he doesn't have the smile and only has the raising eyebrow, but inside, he's probably laughing at my misery with the smuggest smirk in his face. I can tell; his eyes were shining.
"Well?" I internally sighed at my bad luck charm. This is it. My humiliation. I'm gonna die either through embarrassment or the future torture to blow up my brain.
"Um… you see…" Come on, Kisaragi. Get your shit together.
"U-Um… there's a rough draft due this Wednesday, right?"
"Correct." Sheesh. Being curt, aren't you? Let's see…
"Well, there's this chemistry project I have to work with a group, and I need to work on this project at least two days, meaning Friday and Saturday is already booked. Can you help me on Sunday instead to see if my rough draft needs work?"
"Of course…"
All right!
"…with certain conditions."
… what.
Probably, my mind hasn't connected the dots since the Pirithous episode and the stress of school, and I know that my brain is running out of steam. However, this isn't what I was expecting, and I am going to get a headache. When he mentioned conditions, I am expecting more torture from him through mind. I can imagine him laughing with lightning behind him and me chained and shivering on the floor. He'd probably make me reread my freshman work and rewrite twenty pages of pain, and I would have my hand cut and bruised and wearing a rag. Then again, this is the sadistic Mr. Valentine we are talking about.
"What are the conditions?" I was glaring. Yes. Glaring. With a capital "g". I know that I am going to get tortured, but I have ninja pride. There's no way I am going to break, and I will break him and his stupid rules if they are going to be stupid.
"I will tell them later. Right now, I am a little late on escorting my sister and Miss Gainsborough back home. Come, Tifa." Tifa just glared at her brother. Oh boy.
"Tifa Hera Lockhart. You will go home with Aerith Psyche Gainsborough, and I will not tolerate your behavior."
… Wait. Say what!
I think my jaw dropped. Hearing my best friend's middle names just made me realize this was just plain nuts. Wow. We have the most creative nicknames from our parents, do we?
"Fine." Tifa growled and snatched her bags from the side. I glanced at Tifa and Aerith, and they seemed reluctant. Tifa's more of a protective reluctance, and Aerith was more in the worried reluctance. I wonder why.
"Don't worry, girls! You can come over again. Bring Denzel and Marlene, so they can play with Ryuu." That seemed to distract them, and Ryuu popped up behind Aerith. Just in time, too.
"Ti-shan and Ri-shan going home now?" Holy… crap. Did a tornado hit somewhere while being chased? I think we stared at Ryuu with a bit and laughed. Aw… he's giving me the biggest eyes I have ever seen.
"Yes. Ti-chan and Ri-chan has to go home now. It's dangerous to go alone after seven. Understand? Have me, mom, dad, or Chekhov to go with you. No matter what." Ryuu give us the biggest nod and tottered to me just to hug me. I think I died and went to heaven. He's the cutest baby since birth.
"Don't we get a goodbye hug?" Tifa. You suck.
" 'Kay!" Noooo! My moment! Tifa, I hope your brother gives you hell. He's my baby brother!
"Bye, Ti-shan! No sad. Ti-shan has lots of wove in here! Ti-shan not alone!"
… Wait. What?
I just blinked and watched Tifa's eyes widened. Ryuu squirmed for a bit, wanted to get down, and felt Tifa lowering him to the ground. He dashed to Aerith and hugged her by the legs.
"Ri-shan no sorry. Ri-shan try best, and be happy." I have no idea what was going on, even when Ryuu ran back to me and hug me. I don't remember saying my goodbyes to Tifa and Aerith, but I thought of my best friend's names.
First, how could Tifa, the sweetest and motherly person who basically can kick anyone's ass and who took care of me while I was sick, have a middle name coming from the most violent and most jealous goddess in the world? Shit! When my class went through Hera, she was a jealous bitch. I know that her husband did a lot of bad things, but she didn't have to stoop lower than him by wrecking all of the girl's lives. I swear, she was being punished for reacting badly, but it's her husband should be punished a hell lot more. Tifa should be named Hestia or Aphrodite, but there were problems. I think Hestia was a virgin goddess, and she didn't have any lovers. Aphrodite's a whore, and Tifa's not like that.
Still, I think there was a time she was ready to beat the crap out of the girls that were gathering around Cloud, and it took both Aerith and me to hold her back until Cloud came up to her and ask her to go with him. I am crossing my fingers that Cloud's middle name is not what I am thinking because he is not a whore, and I did stalk him for one week to see if he was cheating on Tifa. Not once he met any girl and go bang her.
Second, Aerith's middle name reminded me of that short myth from my eight-grade class. Her name derived from a girl who thought her lover was a dragon and burned him, and she regretted making her lover leave in distrust. I don't remember anything else, but it has to do something about Valentine's Day.
I internally snorted. Buttface's last name is the same name as the day of romance, and the same day that Pirithous and I broke up. It hurt like hell, and I cried with much anger and sadness. However, something told me that this wasn't the end, and I didn't need him. I don't know. I was in a middle of wallowing myself in self-pity, but I think someone around me was trying to comfort me. I think it was either my grandparents or my childhood friend who died when I was young, but it was soothing that I actually fell asleep.
Before I can think further, one low-pitched and louder growl synced with a high-pitched and softer growl.
...
"Yu-shan. Ryuu hungry."
... I'll see how's Chekhov doing.
I think this evening went by fast. My baby brother and I ate Chekhov's dinner; we decided to turn in early since school starts tomorrow. Chekhov tucked in my brother to bed, and I had a few last minutes finish up before I went to bed. I slipped into my white tank top and black loose shorts I found in my wardrobe, and I was packing up my homework into my book bag until I felt a nudge on my arm. I looked up and saw Red… with a letter in his mouth.
"What's that Red?" I took the letter out of his mouth and examined it. Ew… dog drool.
"Uh… thanks, boy." I flicked the saliva off the letter and opened it carefully.
Buttface sent this letter. I wondered why and read.
Dear Yuffie Persephone Kisaragi (Fuck you, Buttface!),
I hope that you have enjoyed your evening during this stressful time, (No shit, Sherlock.)
… and I have successfully escorted both my sister and Aerith Gainsborough back home safely. Now, since I have agreed on tutoring you on Sundays, there are conditions that you would agree to. They are not to be broken through any costs. (It better be good; the alternative is breaking them like dishes.)
One) There will be no music. It is distracting. (Then, I will hum in my head while doing homework.)
Two) There will be no phone calls or text messaging to anyone unless there is an emergency. (Wait. You're ripping this off the syllabus, aren't you!)
Three) There will be no sleeping during my lectures. The punishment will be the reduction of both free time and break time. (Jackass. Sure. Take my playtime away from my brother, you heartless bastard.)
Four) There will be no pranks/mischievous acts/joking during tutoring. (Damn. There goes my plan.)
Five) There will be no outside distractions. Failure to oblige to this will result to extension to tutoring days. (I just signed my death warrant, didn't I?)
Following these conditions will guarantee your protection and your freedom away from your ex-boyfriend. That is all.
Vincent Valentine
Ah… okay. That sentence is easier than it sounds.
…
… Wait. WHAT?
How the hell does he know that I need him to keep Pirithous away from me?